LET’S TALK TECH BABY – The Producers’ breakfast briefing

It’s always fun starting off an event with some ice breakers and personal ways to get the crowd engaged, and that’s certainly what Laura T, host of our sister agency’s The Producers breakfast briefing did yesterday at the Let’s Talk Tech Baby – breakfast briefing.

With
no more than laptop and power point presentation, (sometimes the low tech
approach is the best), Laura Thomson: Trainer, Author, TEDx speaker about
leading the charge on how to humanise the machine, got the crowd going with a
little game of Beat the Bot, showcasing how some aspects of tech still have a
way to go before the Matrix gets us all.

Did
you spot the puppy? Having the human touch still counts for something against
our technological rivals these days.

After
a few rounds of these, Laura went on to highlight how we are now living in a
high tech – high touch world and that tech is something to be fully embraced to
enhance our lives when it is suitable.

Laura
also briefly spoke about how we forget that amazing and
innovative tech we think is coming down the line, already exists today, we
may just not be exposed to it until we need it or it’s not yet hit the
mainstream as we know it.

Before
handing over to Jo Hudson, The Producers and PrettyGreen Planning Director,
Laura made a very significant point about how as humans we unlock the potential
of tech for next generation to use and take advantage of.

Jo
ran through one of her fantastic presentations of insights and interesting
examples of where tech has been a major player in our evolution. The rate of
innovation is exponential as we accelerate our growth through tech. Following
on from Laura’s point, Jo also reinforced that the future is already here,
using the DaVinci robot
operating on a grape as a prime example as well as driverless cars
using advanced cruise control tech which has been around for decades in the
automotive industry.

Tech is there to elevate the brand experience – Audible 360 Quidditch experience

It can be used to deepen narratives – Taste face from Marmite

Try new tech for the sake of it doesn’t always end well – Walkers Selfie

Start with brand strategy not the tech – make sure you’re ready for the tech – don’t run before you can walk!

Boiled
down, Jo’s presentation can be summed up in five handy nuggets of brilliance as
well as marketers we need to avoid the pitfall of tech that some brands
commonly fall into, how we have to keep an eye on the 90% and not just focus on
the 1%.

Following on from Jo’s presentation, the
panel was made up of leading marcomms professionals from Lego, Playstation and
What3Words, with Yasmin Arrigo from Campaign Magazine and The Producers’s
Client Director Emily sat down to have a lively conversation about the good and bad of tech, how they and their organisations
are using tech to elevate and create new and exciting experiences that reach
well beyond the 1%.

We have condensed all of this sensational chat into 25 key points, with five from each panellist.

Yasmin Arrigo – Digital Director
for Campaign UK & US

You need to get the experience right for the 1 to have any chance of reaching the 90.

Don’t hide away experiences and then try and force people out of the main area to go and visit something

Tech has the ability to transport us and enhance. Think of what Samsung has been doing whereby you can enter a Cube and be transported onstage next to the person you’ve been watching

Regions are interesting but more interesting are sectors. The entertainment sector is really exciting, think Drake at O2 or O3 as it was renamed. The fusion of tech, entertainment and film are exciting.

Don’t assume a level of knowledge, we’ve learned with Virtual Reality (VR) experiences that we can qualify people’s knowledge before starting the experience to give them the most tailored event

VR needs a much bigger space and therefore fewer people are able to have an experience, but the immersion is therefore key and happens incredibly quickly

Accessible controllers for people with disabilities are now allowing anyone to play, which is really exciting and a great industry development

In festivals it’s about adding value to the experience (eg) fast charge of phones alongside asking people what they want or need (whilst also remembering sometimes people don’t know what they want)

Tech in experiential is not going to slow down, it’s only enhancing. It’s about getting the most out of life

Emily Koppit – Client Services @ The Producers

Technology should be used to enhance the experience. It has the capacity to make an experience deeper and more engaging

Don’t use technology just because it’s there – Use tech for the right audience and for the right experience

It’s not about dehumanising the experience. It’s about enhancing it for people

Technology can be used to spark conversations and enhance an experience

Sometimes we’re overwhelmed by technology and what we need is human connections

Nicola Morgan-Hulme who is Senior Manager of Brand Relations at LEGO

For LEGO it’s about children’s play, children’s development, the Brick, the importance of creativity and bringing families together

Play is a universal language, and it can be physical and virtual – Learning through play and children stay at the core of our inspiration

Knowing what your brand is and keeping it at the heart, is key to building experiences. How is it meant to make you feel

Understand what drives your audience and what will improve their lives

Markets aren’t necessarily at different levels of development, but how they engage their audiences and interact are different – No matter where the experience is, make sure other markets are aware of it

Miriam
Franks – Head of Global PR for W3W

75% of the world’s addresses are poorly labelled and even the 25% correctly labelled are difficult to find

We’ve split world into 57 trillion 3m x 3m three word locations and the challenge is to change global behaviour

As a Tech start-up it’s important to understand who to target. We’re targeting Ambitious Innovators; Investors, Clients, Staff

When you have a global ambition, the challenge is qualifying it, when people ask “so who are you working with” you can’t just say “no one you know” but soon it will be everyone

The police are working with it. If you make a distressed call and need to tell them where you are, it’s obviously difficult. The police SMS you a link and you click on the link and it will tell you the 3 word location and they can despatch a car

If you’d like to attend a future breakfast briefing, please do get in touch via hello@theproducers.com to be added to the mailing list and keep an eye out across the PrettyGreen and The Producers social channels, newsletter and our blog for details of future events.